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The Descent of the Dove: a Short History of the Holy Spirit in the Church

Williams, Charles

Religious Book Club, 1939

p. 40

“The imaginations of the Alexandrian fathers were courteous; their visions were humane. Origen extended that vision so far as to teach the final restitution of all things, including the devils themselves. It is impossible that some such dream should not linger in any courteous mind, but to teach it as a doctrine almost always ends in the denial of free will. If God has character, if man has choice, an everlasting rejection of God by man must be admitted as a possibility. That is, hell must remain. The situation of the devils, if any, is not man’s business. . . Origen declared as a doctrine what can only remain as a desire.’